I just got a very nice, uncoated Cooke Series XV in a junky dial-set Universal #4 shutter (original mount) that I'd like to remount. The cells screw right into a "modern" Ilex #4, but the Ilex is 0.150 taller than the Universal. Even more interesting, to maintain spacing of the cells relative to the aperture as in the Universal, about 0.200 would need to be taken off the lens mounting surface on the front side of the Ilex, and 0.050 added to the back. Has anyone ever encountered such a thing?

I could remove about 0.050 from the front cell mounting threads of the Ilex without getting into the internals, and 0.100 could easily be removed from the back threads, but I'd worry about changing the effective aperture and increasing diffraction (especially since this is a convertible lens).

Also, if anyone has a Cooke XV lens originally mounted in an Ilex, I'd LOVE to see pictures and get measurements; it might help me remount mine. Btw, mine is s/n 2480xx.